Tuesday, February 19, 2013

dust yourself off and try again, try again

we're on day 40 of twenty thirteen and do you know how many days my husband has been in town this year?

nine.

nine days.

nine whole days.

so, yes. i'm a bit crazy. but that's okay, because i'm already crazy anyway so what's a bit more added to it?

unless, of course, you want to discuss trying to potty train a particular two-and-a-half-year-old who thinks it's hella funny to pee on the carpet and watch mama throw a hissy fit.

but i think that's a story for another day.

or no other day at all, quite frankly.

so, hey. remember this? 

i actually started that in february 2011. as in, two years ago.

and today?

well. i'm stuck.

no, wait. not really stuck. maybe more hmmm... trying to get over my anger. yes! that's better. getting over my anger.

you see, not every square lined up perfectly.

(shock! horror! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!)

then, my experience with the long arm quilter was less-than-desirable.

then, i totally jacked up my binding.

then to make matters worse, i got really angry and really jacked up the binding.


(you may want to click to make bigger to see)

and yes, i totally, completely realize i am BLOWING THIS ALL WAY OUT OF PROPORTION, but lo - i have set this quilt aside for over a year out of anger.

if that doesn't highlight my ability to be a stick-in-the-mud spoil-sport i don't know what does.

so, now i've taken it out of hiding, and i will finish it.

but first, i will finish this:


this is my modern quilt guild madrona road challenge quilt (say that three times fast).

due to life (ahem) it wasn't completed by the january 31st deadline - but! i have high hopes of finishing the hand binding and having it all ready for the next kansas city MQG meeting in march.

i even bought a package of color catching thingamabobs today, in good faith.

Monday, January 14, 2013

and we float up through the rift

there's a certain magic that happens at the beginning of winter. the quietness. the celebrations of light and love and life.

we did our best to enjoy a quiet holiday season and carry the magic through the new year, and it was fantastic. then reality hit.

my husband is out on a long business trip (currently on day nine of who knows how many - hopefully less than 20), emery spent a good three days nonstop vomiting (growth spurt) (i have faith he'll eventually grow out of his EE) (i call it faith, you call it delusion; po-tae-toe, poh-tah-toe). the boys are back to school and back to constantly bickering.

our days are spent snuggling up, staying warm.



and cleaning the basement. oh, the basement.

there's been no shying around that my husband is a hoarder. and for as much as he's a hoarder, i'm a pack rat. the difference, of course, being he holds on to things we'll never use again (two tubs of broken toys, four boxes of old newspapers from his college years he "still wants to read," outdated science books, boxes and boxes of items we no longer own, magazines i threw out but he saved) and i hold on to things of sentimental value (my mom's old letters, little tin treasures from childhood packed with hello kitty pushpins and pencil toppers, tiny wee baby tshirts my boys wore, and every single camera and lens i have ever own). we've thrown gobs and gobs of stuff down there to "sort through on another day" and apparently that day has come.

of course, "day" meaning "months" and as soon as i think i'm close to being done i realize i'm not. but isn't that how life is? at least for me. perception versus reality and what it all boils down to is attitude.

and i choose to do my best to have a good attitude. so if you start to see totally bizarre pictures of my hello kitty treasures do not be alarmed.